The political collapse in Italy has dragged the European markets into the red, nullifying a positive start to trading on Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 closed 64.65 points lower at 7,125 at the end of trading.

Traders were spooked after Italian premier Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation, blaming his rebellious and ambitious deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini for his decision to end his 14-month-old populist government.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said: “The re-emergence of the political collapse in Italy as another crisis for investors to fret over turned a muted-to-positive day of trading into something more troubling.

“Though not as intimately engrossed in Italian politics, the FTSE ended up being Tuesday’s worst performing major index.”